My Favorite Kitchen Gadget

Washington State's annual fair is a family tradition. Between the warm scones, elephant ears and roasted corn, it's something we look forward to each year. Aside from the food, one of our favorite stops has become what we like to call the "gadgets" tents. Inside is a plethora of goods being sold that you likely won't find in any retail store. Over the years, my sweet mom has been suckered into buying some pretty disappointing products like pet hair removers and tupperware lids. But one product has kept us coming back for more - The Salsa Maker.
This hand-powered tool chops and minces quickly and easily with perfect results. It also comes with several attachments for whipping, juicing, shredding and slicing. I pretty much stick to the classic chopping blades but it's nice to have the extras anyway. My favorite uses are mirepoix (carrots, onion and celery) for soup starters or even strawberries as a perfect shortcake topping. But most often, we use it for perfect pico de gallo that I'll even share our recipe for:

Ingredients:
2-3 Roma Tomatoes
1 small sweet onion
1 jalapeno (less if you aren't a fan of spice)
1 tablespoon minced garlic
Seasoned salt
Pepper

Slice your tomatoes in quarters and toss into salsa maker. After cutting off top and bottom, peel off outer onion layer and toss into the maker. Add as much jalapeño as desired. The more you add and the more seeds you add, the hotter your salsa will be. For your first time, scrape out all of the seeds and use about half of your pepper. Add your garlic and a few shakes of seasoned salt and pepper. Close and crank your salsa maker until you've reached the desired consistency. (Mine takes about 8-10 revolutions.) Add salt and pepper to taste.

Above is after just a couple of turns. You can see how quickly all of the ingredients are getting chopped and combined.

The finished product. Everything is super fresh and tastes delicious with tortilla chips or on tacos. We even love to put a little on our tri-tip steak. Yummy.

For a bonus, make a little guacamole by mashing up 1-2 avocados with a fork in a bowl. Add some of your freshly made pico with a dash of extra garlic, salta and pepper. Voila! Table side guac made to perfection.